Objectives
At the end of this module you will be able to:
Objectives
At the end of this module you will be able to:
Introduction to Reading 4.1 and 4.2
4.1. Michael G. Lawler and Thomas J. Shanahan, "Church as Graced Communion", in Church: A Spirited Communion, Collegeville, The Liturgical Press, 1995, 1-18.
4.2. Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,) chapters 1 and 2. Please have this reading before you as you read Lawler and Shanahan.
Note the following abbreviations of church documents:
CL: Christifideles laici , (a papal letter,1978);
LG: Lumen Gentium, Dogmatic Constitution on the church;
AG: Ad gentes, Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church;
CL: John Paul II, Christifideles laici, Apostolic Exhortation on the Laity;
SC: Sacrosanctum Concilium, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.
In module 3 we have seen that Vatican II wanted to understand the church in a way very different from the theology that had become widely accepted before the council. My aim is now to guide you through your reading of Lawler and Shanahan and Lumen Gentium. We hope to clarify for you the meaning of several important expressions for church in Vatican II.
(i) Preamble (p.1)
The preamble to the reading situates Lumen Gentium in the context of the history of ecclesiology. The first point Lawler and Shanahan make is that in Vatican II the church is described as a communion. The authors provide evidence to suggest that the idea of the church being a communion is a core council teaching. An inspection of Lumen Gentium will show us that this idea, if not the most important aspect, is at least a very important aspect of Vatican II ecclesiology. Which Vatican II concept of church is to be considered the most important one remains a matter of theological consideration and debate.
Next the authors document the Vatican II change in thinking about the nature of the church. We read about the council’s rejection the document on the church that had been prepared by theologians before the council. This draft could be said to represent the sort of ecclesiology that had developed after the Council of Trent.
Lawler and Shanahan sum up the new thinking about the church as a transition from a juridical vision to a theological vision. This new theological vision of church is outlined in terms of "a mysterious vertical communion between God and believers, and a horizontal communion between believers" (p.3). At once you will see how different this sort of language is from the way the church is described in the preparatory document.
Following their Preamble, the authors proceed to discuss a number of the council’s concepts for church in the style of a running commentary on Lumen Gentium. (This is why you need to have Lumen Gentium open before you.)
In the sections Church as Trinitarian and Church as Mystery Lawler and Shanahan discuss Lumen Gentium chapter 1. This chapter is entitled "The Mystery of the Church." We can assume that the term "mystery" chosen as the title of the first chapter is of fundamental importance for understanding the whole document.
Please read Lawler and Shanahan on Church as Mystery. To help you with this difficult expression (mystery as applied to church) I wish to put before you some additional comments from another source.
In his book Mystery of Life: A Theology of Church theologian Charles Hill reminds us that mystery is a biblical word.
Lumen Gentium presents the church as a mystery in a way that is generally faithful to the development of the notion in the Pauline literature of the New Testament. The mystery, which is not simply a matter beyond our understanding but a vast sacred reality that has in fact been revealed to us, is the mystery of Christ, the plan for all things designed for eternity to take effect ‘in Christ’ (in Paul’s frequent phrase). So the Constitution speaks at once of Christ; the church is the mystery of Christ in its ecclesial, community dimension. (Charles Hill, Mystery of Life: A Theology of Church, Melbourne: Collins Dove, 1990), 5-6.
In the Old and New Testaments the term mystery often has the sense of revelation. This is quite the opposite to the modern sense of concealment or puzzle. A biblical passage like the book of Daniel chapter 2 suggests that mystery is an "open secret" of God’s mind which can be made known by a revelation. In Ephesians 3.4-11 Paul uses "mystery of Christ" to refer to the plan of God’s wisdom for the union of all humanity, that is Jew and Gentile, through the church. When Paul contemplates the revelation of such a plan he worships in awe. You will remember from module 2 that in Ephesians and Colossians the word church (ekklesia) means the whole church, not only the church of one place.
Exercise 4.2
4.2.1 Comment on the statement that the council insisted on locating the church in the category of mystery rather than in the category of nature. Read Lumen Gentium chapter 1 and sketch the broad dimensions of the mystery of the church, beginning with design of the eternal Father (paragraph 2).
Church as Trinitarian (p.3)
In this section Lawler and Shanahan continue to comment on Lumen Gentium chapter 1. You will note that the council presents the church in terms of the Father’s design, the presence of Christ and the role of the Holy Spirit. The authors want to make the point that "these theocentric, Christocentric, and pneumatocentric [i.e., Spirit-centred] dimensions of the church give ecclesiology a quite different focus from the juridical and triumphalist focus of the post-Tridentine era" (pp.5-6).
Exercise 4.1
4.1.1 What evidence do Lawler and Shanahan provide for their claim that, according to Lumen Gentium, if it [the church] is ever separated from Christ, absolutised in itself, considered only in its institutional aspects, it ceases to be Christian Church and becomes just one more human institution?
I will now comment in particular on what Lawler and Shanahan say about the Spirit and the Church (pp.4-5. Note the error: for Hebrew ‘ad’am read ‘adam.).
In describing the role of the Spirit in constituting the church Lumen Gentium draws on two sources. The first is the New Testament, especially the Pauline writings, the Acts of the Apostles, and the gospel of John. The second is the theological tradition applying the biblical evidence in the ongoing life of the church. The Church is particularly aware of the presence of the sanctifying power and presence of the Spirit when Christians are baptised and anointed and when they receive special gifts of grace with which to serve the church.
Exercise 4.1
4.1.2 Explain the statement that it is the Spirit that constantly constitutes the church. Refer to Lawler and Shanahan p.5 and to Lumen Gentium para. 4.
4.1.3 Read the Lawler and Shanahan’s discussion of the role of the Father in regard to the church on p.5, and refer to Lumen Gentium.
Church as Communion (p.7)
In explaining the title of this unit we have already suggested the importance of communion for ecclesiology today. This topic will be developed for us in its New Testament meaning and in its ecumenical aspect in Module 5. For the present we will consider what Vatican II says about the church as communion. You will see that Lawler and Shanahan argue that communion is the single most important Vatican II concept for church. That explains why they use it in the title of their book and introduce it into the chapter sub-headings whenever possible.
In this section of the reading please note:
(i) Lawler and Shanahan attempt to clarify the notion of communion by distinguishing the internal aspects from the external or observable aspects of the life of the church as communion.
(ii) They ask us to consider three levels at which the communion of the church exists (in its external and internal aspects, p.9).
Exercise 4.2
4.2.2 Discuss the difference, if any, between the statements that the Church is a communion and that it is a community.
People of God and Communion (p.10)
Lumen Gentium chapter 1 set the widest possible parameters for understanding the church. The church is considered in relation to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Lumen Gentium , Chapter 2, singles out one biblical figure of the church, "The People of God." "Although this biblical figure stole the limelight and received much theological attention in subsequent years, it is secondary to the initial idea of the Church as a mystery." (Hill, Mystery of Life, pp.5, 8).
When we studied the church in the Old Testament in module one we considered how the people of God began with Abraham who is understood in tradition as the father of faith.
In discussing the council teaching on the church as the people of God Lawler and Shanahan argue (i) that the people have no meaning apart from their God (ii) that the people of God designates the church and not the whole of humanity (iii) that the image people of God is not intended to suggest a distinction between the laity and clergy.
Exercise 4.2
4.2.3 "This chapter places greater emphasis on the human and communal aspects of the church than on the juridical and hierarchical aspects."(Sanks). Write a comment on this claim.
Body of Christ and Communion (p. 12)
Body of Christ is a New Testament (Pauline) expression for the church. We may say that body of Christ specifies the aspect under which Christians become the people of God. Lawler and Shanahan proceed to discuss the two senses in which "body of Christ" is used in the New Testament.
(i) In Romans and Corinthians "body of Christ" refers to the local church. The body of Christ of the local church is grounded in the same faith of the members, the common baptism of the members, in the Eucharist and the local bishop.
Lawler and Shanahan proceed to discuss the theological question of the relation of the local churches to the universal church. These authors advise us not to understand the local churches as merely parts of the universal church. Neither, they argue, should we understand the universal church as a federation of local churches. To express the relationship in a more theologically correct manner, they cite the Joint Working Group of the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches. "The universal church is not the sum, federation or juxtaposition of the local churches, but all together are the same church of God present and acting in this world." (p.14).
(ii) In Colossians and Ephesians the term body of Christ is used in a different sense. In these letters "church" means the universal church (as we have noted now more than once) and the metaphor of "body of Christ" is extended to include the idea that Christ is the head of the (universal) church. "He is the head of the body, the church" (Col. 1.18). We can understand such language to mean that in the church, Christ is made "accessible and visible, a person acting in the world." (p.14)
Exercise 4.2
4.2.4 How do you differentiate people of God and body of Christ?
Another useful book is on the Church as Communion, T. Howland Sanks. Salt, Leaven and Light: The Community Called Church. New York: Crossroad, 1992. See chapter 6. This is not however compulsory reading for this module.
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